WikiLeaks founder braces for extradition

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is one step closer to being extradited to Sweden after the UK supreme court rejected an appeal to re-open the controversial case.

The written appeal was submitted by Assange rep Dinah Rose, a British human rights lawyer.

”Had Ms. Rose been minded to challenge the applicability of [the Vienna convention on the law of treaties] or the applicability of state practice [on interpreting treaties] … she had the opportunity to do so. [However], she made no such challenge,” the court explained in legal documents obtained by the UK-based Guardian.

“Her submissions were to the effect that caution should be exercised when considering the effect of state practice. For these reasons the court considers that this application is without merit and it is dismissed.”

The latest ruling leaves Assange’s lawyers with the choice of appealing the decision to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg or agreeing to the extradition requests.

As TG Daily previously reported, the WikiLeaks founder was recently granted 14 days by the court to challenge his pending extradition to Sweden where he faces charges of sexual assault. Assange – who denies the accusations – is concerned that extradition to Sweden could ultimately lead to his eventual transfer to the United States.

“The big risk, the risk we have always been concerned about, is onwards extradition to the United States. And that seems to be increasingly likely,” the WikiLeaks founder told the BBC. “A lot of face has been lost by some people and some… have careers to make by pursuing a famous case.”

Assange became a household name in 2010 after WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of classified US documents, including a video that showed US forces firing at Iraqi civilians and journalists whom they had mistaken for armed insurgents.